Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Receives “Neutral” Rating from Piper Sandler
Piper Sandler reissued their neutral rating on shares of Salesforce (NYSE:CRM – Free Report) in a report issued on Monday morning, Benzinga reports. Piper Sandler currently has a $300.00 target price on the CRM provider’s stock.
Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Wedbush raised their price objective on Salesforce from $280.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Bank of America lifted their price target on Salesforce from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a buy rating and set a $345.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a report on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Salesforce from $260.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Salesforce from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $306.26.
View Our Latest Report on Salesforce
Salesforce Price Performance
Shares of NYSE CRM opened at $272.75 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $264.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 64.94, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.28. The business has a 50-day moving average of $298.52 and a 200-day moving average of $260.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 1.09. Salesforce has a fifty-two week low of $190.57 and a fifty-two week high of $318.71.
Salesforce (NYSE:CRM – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 28th. The CRM provider reported $1.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.72 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $9.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.22 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 10.42% and a net margin of 11.87%. Salesforce’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.01 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Salesforce will post 7.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Salesforce Dividend Announcement
The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.59%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 13th. Salesforce’s payout ratio is presently 9.52%.
Insiders Place Their Bets
In other Salesforce news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $295.74, for a total transaction of $4,436,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 12,928,721 shares in the company, valued at $3,823,539,948.54. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 216 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $278.71, for a total transaction of $60,201.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 2,869 shares in the company, valued at $799,618.99. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $295.74, for a total transaction of $4,436,100.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 12,928,721 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,823,539,948.54. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 897,375 shares of company stock worth $260,206,096 over the last three months. Insiders own 3.70% of the company’s stock.
Institutional Trading of Salesforce
A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CRM. Fairfield Bush & CO. increased its holdings in Salesforce by 8.7% in the first quarter. Fairfield Bush & CO. now owns 4,468 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $949,000 after purchasing an additional 357 shares during the period. Roundview Capital LLC increased its holdings in Salesforce by 18.8% in the first quarter. Roundview Capital LLC now owns 24,037 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $5,104,000 after purchasing an additional 3,809 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd increased its holdings in Salesforce by 42.8% in the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 621 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $132,000 after purchasing an additional 186 shares during the period. Ergoteles LLC acquired a new stake in Salesforce in the first quarter valued at $455,000. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its holdings in Salesforce by 21.3% in the first quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 860,950 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $182,797,000 after purchasing an additional 151,440 shares during the period. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
About Salesforce
Salesforce, Inc provides Customer Relationship Management (CRM) technology that brings companies and customers together worldwide. The company’s service includes sales to store data, monitor leads and progress, forecast opportunities, gain insights through analytics and artificial intelligence, and deliver quotes, contracts, and invoices; and service that enables companies to deliver trusted and highly personalized customer support at scale.
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